A Fellow Orphan
by TheTrapdoorLover
Summary: The Sanzo party are stranded in the mountains during a blizzard. Over the wind, Hakkai hears a cry and finds an abandoned child. Sanzo, however, is less than welcoming to the new arrival.


"Wow, it's really snowin', ain't it?"

While negotiating their way through a path carved high in the mountaintops, the gentle snow that had been falling had steadily increased in intensity. Finally, it blotted out the sun with its blinding whiteness, preventing the Sanzo party from moving any further that day, and forcing them to seek shelter. Despite his best efforts and Hakkai's skill at driving, Hakuyru wheels spun hopelessly in the drifts of snow covering the treacherous paths. Now the little white dragon hid from the cold in Hakkai's shirt while the Sanzo party made their way on foot, their bags slung over their backs. Groping their way through the blizzard, they managed to find a cave in a rock face, deep enough to keep out the snow and wind, but not the cold. Though Sanzo and Gojyo both had lighters, there was no wood to be found. They would have to make do with their thin, damp blankets. Sanzo had installed himself in the back of the cave, a cigarette hanging idly between his lips, while Goku sat close to the mouth of the cave, watching the blizzard while Gojyo sat close by.

"Brilliant deduction, genius. Did you come with that all by yourself, or did someone have to help you?"

"Shut up, ya stupid cockroach!"

"Make me, you dumb monkey!"

Hakkai had to smile. There was no way something as trivial as a little cold could keep them subdued. Right on cue, a faint whistling sound could be heard, ending in a dull "thwack" as a paper fan came in contact with two heads in quick succession, a skilled maneuver that had plenty of practice behind it. "Will you two shut up before I kill you?" Sanzo asked as a vein throbbed at his temple, the question obviously rhetorical from the dangerous gleam in his violet eyes.

Hakkai sighed, smiling to himself as he cuddled his little dragon against him, offering what body heat he had to lend to him. Silence settled in the cave, but he suspected it wouldn't be too long until Gojyo and Goku broke it once more. Those two were as bad as kid brothers! Though they would never admit it, as they would probably be too busy trying to get the upper hand of one another, they were close. The rare moment of silence last just long enough for Hakkai to hear something that troubled him greatly.

"Did you hear that?" he asked, turning to the other three who were reclining in various places in the cave. Gojyo and Goku snapped out of their moody silence, looking at Hakkai with interest. Sanzo didn't look up, choosing instead to take long drags off his cigarette. Gojyo gave Hakkai and odd look. "Hear what?"

"It sounded like a cry," he said, his eyes intense. "Like a little child crying."

Goku's brow furrowed. "I didn't hear nuthin'." Strangely enough, Gojyo nodded in agreement. "It's probably just the wind. It's really howling out there, ya know?"

Hakkai nodded, letting the matter rest, answering them with silence, but the look on his face made it clear that he didn't believe what he heard had just been the wind. Hakkai sat, straining his ears against the silence until he stood up, leaving a confused Hakuyru wrapped in the warm blanket. He peeped curiously up at his master.

"Someone's out there," he insisted, walking towards the mouth of the cave but Gojyo stood quickly and put his hand on his arm. "Are you nuts?" he asked him, knowing that it was going to be next to impossible to dissuade Hakkai from going out into the snow to search for whatever may or may not be there. "You're going to get lost in all that snow and freeze to death! Look, man, there's nothing out there. It's just the wind. Just stay here, okay?"

Hakkai shook his head adamantly, freeing himself from Gojyo's well-meant grasp. "No. There's a child out there, lost in the storm. I have to go find them, or else they'll most certainly die from exposure."

Gojyo sighed. "Hakkai- hey!" Hakkai, however, had already vanished out into the blizzard.

"Ch," scoffed Sanzo. "Idiot."

Gojyo spent the next half hour alternating between leaning against the wall near the mouth of the cave, or pacing. The later normally earned him another smack from Sanzo's fan, which did nothing to help his growing worry for his friend. Damn you, Hakkai! he thought, though he barely meant those words. This is just how Hakkai was, unable to let anything weak and defenseless get hurt, especially an animal or a child. Maybe it was from his days as a teacher; some instincts never leave a person. At last Gojyo's vigil ended as Hakkai's green and kaki-clad form began to distinguish itself from the white background.

"You bastard!" Gojyo exclaimed with relief as Hakkai trudged into the cave, hunched over against the wind. He was soaked with melted snow, and shivering terribly. Goku threw his blanket about Hakkai's shoulders as Gojyo continued to rail at him, venting out his pent up worry. "What the hell were you thinking, going out there like that? You could have gotten lost, you moron, and now you could get sick. Brilliant move. And all for what, huh? Where's this kid you said-" Gojyo's rant was silenced as Hakkai moved his arms away from his chest, revealing a good sized bulge in his green shirt. Opening the fastens down the front of his shirt, he revealed a tiny body clad only in a homespun nightdress cuddling against his skin for warmth. The little girl had a short, downy crown of brown hair on her perfect head, and her large, blue eyes looked around curiously. She could not have been over a year old.

"I found her in another small cave, not to far from here. I don't know where the parents are," Hakkai explained through chattering teeth as he removed the blanket from his shoulders and wrapped it around the little girl.

"Christ," Gojyo exclaimed softly as he rushed to wrap his blanket around Hakkai's trembling shoulders, whose normally pale skin was positively white. Yet despite his discomforts, Hakkai was smiling down at his precious burden, watching with tender eyes as sleep overcame her and rocked her in its embrace. Moving carefully so as not to wake her, he sat down towards the back of the cave, keeping her close to his body for warmth.

Goku watched Hakkai hold the little creature for a few moments before he quietly crept over to his side. He knelt down and peered at the child, his eyes innocent and wide. "I've never seen a kid so small," he said quietly, as if afraid any loud noise may scare her. Then, his face broke out into a grin. "Man, look at her hands!" he exclaimed softly, nudging one of them with his finger. They were so small and perfect, the skin soft and smooth. Each tiny finger was adorned with an even smaller fingernail. After a little more nudging, she opened her hand and closed it around Goku's finger, making him laugh. "Look at that, Hakkai! She can't even get her hand all the way around my finger- just one of my fingers! Hey, you got a pretty good grip there," he told the baby, smiling like a fool in love. "How come she's so tiny?"

Hakkai laughed softly, a warm, comforting sound. "She's still very little, Goku. Wouldn't say more than a year old."

Goku nodded, letting the little girl have control over the hand she was holding onto. He couldn't bear the idea of taking it away from her. Instead, he just used his other hand to explore, running the tip of his finger now her miniature nose, messing carefully with her hair. When he poked her squishy little belly, though, she started to fuss, her little face wrinkling in unhappiness as she let go of Goku's hand. He looked terrified. "Oooh, man…I broke her!"

Gojyo shook his head in amused frustration. "You didn't break her, idiot. You just made her cry, that's all."

Goku's face fell further. "I made her cry? Aw, don't cry, baby! I'm really sorry…"

Hakkai smiled tenderly at Goku, being reminded of when his students became big brothers or sisters for the first time. Many times he had been invited to his student's houses for dinner, their parents knowing that the young, talented teacher could barely afford to eat on the salary he was receiving from the school. His students, bubbling with excitement, would take him to see their brand-new sibling. He remembered fondly the looks of worry on their faces when their brother or sister started to cry. "Don't worry, Goku," Hakkai soothed, rocking her back and forth in his arms. "You didn't do anything wrong. She's probably just tired." Goku nodded, though worry still shone in his eyes. Unexpectedly, Sanzo's voice, icier than the wind, cut through the air like a knife.

"We can't keep it."

Slightly startled by the suddenness of the comment, Hakkai's eyes flicked to Sanzo, who still had not given so much as a passing glance to the child. How could the monk look so cold after blatantly disregarding the life on an innocent child? "What are we supposed to do with her then, if not keep her?"

Sanzo pulled a long drag of the acrid smoke into his lungs, and released it, making a grayish cloud in the frigid air. "Put it back where you found it."

"Put it back where…" Hakkai stared at the monk, his inward horror beginning to weigh too heavy on his cracking façade of calm. What Sanzo was suggesting was…murder! "Back in the snow, Sanzo? She'll die."

The white robed shoulders rose and fell in a short shrug. "It's not our responsibility."

"There was no one with her when I found her, so she is more our responsibility than anyone's," he replied evenly, a barely concealed threat of anger glinting in his emerald eyes. Gojyo had to wonder how much more the healer could take of Sanzo's cruelty towards the little girl.

Golden eyes sought out the purple pair, still hidden by the veil of golden blonde hair. "Aw, c'mon Sanzo…she's tiny.."

"She's baggage that I don't need," was the caustic reply, helping to further weaken the subservient, unresisting nature of Hakkai. The glint in his eyes was sharpening into a razor-sharp point. "Hakkai, you will put it back where you found it. End of story."

Gojyo watched as the healers eyes moved to rest on the face of the child her held so tenderly against him, like a father would hold his own flesh and blood. There was a fierceness in his green eyes that'd he'd rarely seen before, a protectiveness over his precious burden. Though normally first to concede to Sanzo's whims, Gojyo knew that Hakkai was not going to back down from this issue as long as he drew breath.

"I am not about to return her to that cave where she will freeze to death."

The hand that held the cigarette twitched, a telltale sign that Sanzo's lethal ire was on the rise, like a swollen river during a rainstorm. Once the embankments could no longer contain it, all hell would undoubtedly break loose. "She's not staying here."

"If you insist, you're more than welcome to turn the both of us out."

"Can you just stop being stupid, Hakkai?" he sighed, rising from his place and walking towards Hakkai. He held out a hand, the violet eyes just visible beneath the blonde fringe. "Give me the kid."

"No. This is foolishness. If she bothers you this much, then we will leave her in the care of someone at the next village. However, I will not put her back outside to die. You will just have to adjust to her for the time being," he smiled, the little child making a contented cooing noise, happy to be warm against his chest.

A vein at Sanzo's temple throbbed. "I'm not running a damn charity here!"

A silence so oppressive settled in the cave that not even Goku dared break it and face Sanzo's anger. It was a very rare occasion when Sanzo and Hakkai ever had a disagreement, let alone an actual fight. It almost scared him, seeing Hakkai's eyes alive with anger instead of mercy. He was supposed to be the calm one, the one who kept Sanzo from loosing it completely and killing both he and Gojyo. He watched as Hakkai stood up, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he rocked the baby in his arms.

"You know, Sanzo," Hakkai began, his tenor voice cutting through the silence as clean as the sharp edge of a knife, "for being an orphan yourself, you're not very merciful. What would have happened if your master had not saved you from the river?"

Violet eyes blazed with hate, and in three strides he was in front of him, his clenched fist connecting with the side of the healer's face. All at once the cave was filled with a jarring chorus of sound: Hakkai's sharp cry of surprised pain, Goku's shout of disbelief, a passionate "Jesus Christ!" from Gojyo as he rushed to restrain Sanzo, and the frightened wails of a young child.

"Lay off him, Sanzo!" Goku shouted as Sanzo struggled against Gojyo, cursing, desperate to land at least one more good punch on Hakkai. Hakkai, however, was apt to throw in a few more words to cut at the monk. "And the fact that you are a priest should give you even more of a reason not to turn away from those who need help."

"You no nothing of about the vows I took! The only vow I ever made was to my master!"

"Would your master have thrown out this child?"

"If he ever knew what it was like to be an orphan, then yes! Let go of me, Gojyo!" he raged, his harsh voice the only sound in the cave. Even the baby had stopped crying. Gojyo hesitantly let him go, watching to make sure he wouldn't lash out again. Sanzo grabbed his small bag of things and threw it over his shoulder, casting a loathing eye on his the three other travelers. "Screw you all an this little day care services you're running. Fuck it. I can go faster on foot."

Goku's eyes widened. "You can't go out there! It's cold and snowing still!"

Sanzo acted as if he hadn't here, merely throwing his blanket about his shoulders and stalking out into the virgin white world of snow.

Gojyo sighed heavily. "Arrogant prick…"


End file.
